The Revival of a Dual Ordination for Korean Buddhist Nuns in the Modern Period

Transcription

1 The Revival of a Dual Ordination for Korean Buddhist Nuns in the Modern Period by Inyoung Chung (Bhikṣuṇī Sukdham) Religious Studies at University of Virginia Introduction This paper is mainly concerned with the historical revival of a dual ordination for Korean Buddhist nuns 1 in the modern period. It focuses on the revival of a dual ordination for Korean nuns as well as some issues on the observance of the ordination procedure required for nuns in the Ssu-fen lü 四分律 or the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya in the Korean historical and social contexts. This paper is divided into four parts. In the first part, I discuss Vinaya Master Chaun s 慈雲 ( ) 2 dedication tutoring Buddhist monastic disciplinary texts to Korean monks and nuns. In the second part, I examine the role of Master Chaun in reviving the practice of a dual ordination and the historical revival ordination for Korean nuns in October, In the third part, I investigate some issues related to observe the procedure of 1 There are not many historical records that indicate how a dual ordination for Korean nuns was carried out in early Korean Buddhist history, but Korean Buddhist scholars agree that a legitimate Korean bhikṣuṇī lineage was established in accordance with a proper procedure of a dual ordination by the sixth century in Korea. For more information on the history of a dual ordination for Korean nuns, see Hyangsoon Yi, Vicissitudes in the Order of Buddhist Nuns during Chosŏn Korea in this book. 2 For more information on Chaun, see Robert E. Buswell, Jr., The Zen Monastic Experience: Buddhist Practice in Contemporary Korea (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1992), p. 90.

2 a dual ordination for nuns as they were encountered in October, In the last part, I focus my discussion on Korean nuns struggle to maintain the autonomy of a dual ordination for nuns. Master Chaun s Dedication Tutoring Buddhist Monastic Disciplinary Texts to Korean Monks and Nuns The end of the Chosŏn 朝鮮 period ( ) of Korean history was marked by the beginning of the period of Japanese colonial rule ( ). During this tumultuous thirty-six year period, the Japanese Buddhist practice of married monks permeated Korean monasticism, and the number of monks who adhered to the traditional Korean monastic practice of celibacy dwindled rapidly. 3 Yet Korean nuns remained celibates throughout Japanese colonial rule and were ordained as bhikṣuṇīs under the bhikṣu saṃgha alone. Profoundly distressed by what he considered to be the degeneration of Buddhism, the negligence of Vinaya study, and the poor observance of the monastic rules, Master Chaun vowed to restore the practice of celibacy to Korean monasticism and dedicated his life to Vinaya study. 4 After the Korean liberation from the Japanese, celibate monks and nuns anxiously wished to restore their earlier celibate monastic tradition, but the devastating Korean 3 For more information on Korean Buddhism during Japanese colonial rule, see Buswell, Jr., The Zen Monastic Experience: Buddhist Practice in Contemporary Korea, pp Interview with Myoŏm at the Pongnyŏngsa Nunnery in Korea in July, Myoŏm is the abbess at the Pongnyŏngsa Nunnery, President of the Pongnyŏngsa Monastic Seminary for Nuns, and Rector of the Diamond Vinaya Institute at Pongnyŏngsa. For more information on Myoŏm and Pongnyŏngsa, see the website (

3 War ( ) prevented immediate action. Many Korean monks and nuns were forced to take refuge at monasteries and nunneries in the area of Pusan, the temporary wartime capital of South Korea. 5 As a refugee, Master Chaun tutored a small group of monks and nuns at T ongdosa 通度寺 with Buddhist monastic disciplinary texts. At the height of the Korean War in 1951, three nuns, Myoŏm 妙嚴 (1932- ), Myoyŏng 妙英 (? 1955), and Myohi 妙熙 ( ), 6 began to study Buddhist monastic disciplinary texts under Master Chaun. The three nuns shared a room at the Pot aam 普陀庵 Nunnery near T ongdosa and commuted on foot to the monastery to study the Buddhist precepts under Master Chaun. Food was scarce than ever during the war. The three nuns often alleviated their hunger with their very meager supplies of food. They routinely gathered firewood in the mountains and begged for alms in the local villages. The copies of Buddhist monastic disciplinary texts were also scarce at war. Master Chaun provided with them for the three nuns. 7 The three nuns started with learning the precepts and regulations of the Chinese Samini yurŭi 沙彌尼律儀 (Precepts and Decorums for Śrāmaṇerikā) and continued to study the Bhikṣuṇī Prātimokṣa of the Ssu-fen lü and the Fan-wang ching 梵網經 (Book of Brahmā s Net). These Chinese monastic disciplinary texts written in literary Chinese were not yet translated into Korean, nor did the three nuns have the ability to read literary Chinese at the time. As is the customary practice of Korean monks 5 Wŏrun, Unhŏ nosa ǔi p yŏnyong (Some Memories of Master Unhŏ), in Myŏngsŏng sŭnim kohǔi kinyŏm pulgyohak nonmunjip (A Collection of Essays in Buddhist Studies: A Festschrift for Venerable Myŏngsŏng in Honor of Her Seventieth Birthday), ed. Myŏngsŏng sŭnim kohǔi kinyŏm nonmunjip kanhaengwiwŏnhoe (Seoul: Pulkwang ch ulp anbu, 2000), p For more information on Myohi, see Martine Batchelor, Myohi Sunim: A Korean Nun Teacher of Elderly Women, in Women s Buddhism Buddhism s Women, ed. Ellison Banks Findly (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000), pp Interview with Myoŏm at Pongnyŏngsa in June, 2005.

4 and nuns, Master Chaun sat down cross-legged on the floor of his room before the three nuns and translated word by word each of the three-hundred-forty-eight bhikṣuṇī rules in the Bhikṣuṇī Prātimokṣa, as well as the ten major and forty-eight minor bodhisattva precepts in the Fan-wang ching. Because the three nuns did not even have small floor desks on which to place their texts, they put their texts on the laps and repeated word by word the Korean translation of each precept after Master Chaun. 8 Although Master Chaun made great efforts to tutor the monastic disciplinary texts to the nuns, he never had them performed any menial task for him such as washing and sewing his clothes, cooking, or cleaning his room. Nor did he receive any financial compensation from the nuns for his work. In the face of Korean monks declining adherence to the monastic rules even after Korean liberation from the Japanese, Master Chaun was determined to restore a tradition of monastic celibacy in the midst of the destruction and tremendous human suffering of the Korean War. 9 The Role of Master Chaun in Reviving the Practice of a Dual Ordination for Korean Nuns in October, Ibid. 9 Ibid.

5 During the three years of the Korean War, all industrial facilities on the Korean peninsula were ravaged by intense aerial bombardment. Due to the destruction of the war, Korean Buddhists took decades to recover from the devastating losses of their literary, architectural, and human resources. In early 1982, Master Chaun, who was revered by monks and nuns alike, petitioned the members of the council of the Korean Buddhist Chogye 曹溪 (or Jogye) Order to reinstitute the practice of a dual ordination for nuns. In June of 1982, the members of the council of the Chogye Order restricted bhikṣuṇī ordination, proclaiming that nuns must be ordained as bhikṣuṇīs under both saṃghas. 10 According to the new regulation, a śrāmaṇerikā who was eighteen-years-old or more must be ordained as a śikṣamāṇā under the six rules by qualified bhikṣuṇī masters. A śikṣamāṇā who is twenty-years-old or more must be ordained as a bhikṣuṇī under ten qualified nuns in addition to ten qualified monks, or at least five qualified nuns in addition to five qualified monks. 11 In 1981, Master Chaun appointed Myoŏm to lead a bhikṣuṇī committee that geared to prepare for the revival of a dual ordination for nuns. With Master Chaun s full support, the bhikṣuṇī committee held the First Korean Bhikṣuṇī Congregation for ten days in August of 1982 at the Chin gwansa 津寬寺 Nunnery in Seoul. The abbess of Chin gwansa provided all the food and lodging for fifty bhikṣuṇī participants of the First Korean Bhikṣuṇī Congregation Ibid. 11 Piguni yebisugye piguni ka sŏrhanda (Lecturing the Monastic Rules for Bhikṣuṇīs by Bhikṣuṇīs), Bulgyosinmun (Buddhist newspaper), 1982 (June, 20), p. 1. The Bugyosinmun is a weekly Buddhist newspaper in Korea. 12 I was one of the fifty bhikṣuṇī participants of the First Korean Bhikṣuṇī Congregation at the Chin gwansa Nunnery in August, 1982.

6 Between October 15 th and 20 th of 1982, for the first time in the modern Korean Buddhist history, the three principal and seven witnessing bhikṣuṇī masters chosen by the First Korean Bhikṣuṇī Congregation held a historic revival of a dual ordination for nuns at the Taesŏngam 大成庵 Nunnery near Pŏmŏsa 梵魚寺 in Pusan. While monks held their ordination platform at Pŏmŏsa, nuns performed their ordination ceremony separately at Taesŏngam. Of the three principle bhikṣuṇī masters at this revival of a dual ordination, Chŏnghaeng 淨行 ( ) was the chŏn gye asari 傳戒阿闍梨 or the preceptor, Myoŏm was the kyosu asari 敎授阿闍梨 or the instructor, and Myŏngsŏng 明星 (1931- ) was the kalma asari 羯磨阿闍梨 or the confessor. 13 Master Chaun single-handedly provided all expenses for the revival of a dual ordination for nuns with money donated by his devotees. During the entire ordination proceedings for nuns at Taesŏngam, he was present to ensure that every step of the ordination procedure for nuns was performed properly. 14 At the beginning of the bhikṣuṇī ordination ceremony at Taesŏngam, the prospective bhikṣuṇīs verified their physical states and spiritual capacities with the confessor, and then again with ten bhikṣuṇī masters. Myoŏm as instructor delivered on lectures bhikṣuṇī rules in the Ssu-fen lü to the prospective bhikṣuṇīs twice a day during the six-day intensive monastic training for nuns until all the three-hundred-forty-eight bhikṣuṇī rules had been covered. On the last day of the bhikṣuṇī ordination ceremony at the nunnery, the ten bhikṣuṇī masters and the prospective bhikṣuṇīs 13 Pŏmŏsa sugyesallimsŏ 6paek14 myŏng sugye (The Ordination Platform at Pŏmŏsa for Six-Hundred- Fourteen Monks and Nuns), Bulgyosinmun, 1982 (Oct. 24), p Interview with Myoŏm at Pongnyŏngsa in June, 2005.

7 walked to Pŏmŏsa and completed the bhikṣuṇī ordination under ten bhikṣu and ten bhikṣuṇī masters. 15 Some Issues Related to Observe the Procedure of a Dual Ordination for Korean Nuns in October, 1982 At the revival of a dual ordination for Korean nuns in October, 1982, the authorities of the ordination platform had nuns ordained as both śikṣamāṇās and bhikṣuṇīs within one week. According to the Vinaya, nuns must be ordained as bhikṣuṇīs after twoyear śikṣamāṇā training under the six rules. Nonetheless, preparing for the revival of a dual ordination for nuns was a mind-boggling procedure for the authorities of the ordination platform. The authorities were faced with a shortage of finances as well as a lack of bhikṣuṇī vinaya masters. Other difficulties including finding a nunnery located near a major monastery, choosing ten qualified bhikṣuṇī masters, setting the dates of the ordination ceremony, and gathering ten bhikṣu and ten bhikṣuṇī masters for the fixed period of the ordination ceremony. It was practically impossible to fulfill all of required regulations of a dual ordination for nuns as specified in the Vinaya at the time Ibid. 16 Ibid.

8 After carefully scrutinizing the qualifications of the prospective bhikṣuṇīs, the authorities of the ordination platform selected one-hundred-eighty-nine nuns, all of whom had spent their monastic lives as śrāmaṇerikās for years, to be ordained as śikṣamāṇās and bhikṣuṇīs within one week. 17 The revival of a dual ordination for Korean nuns in October of 1982 was as if a baby took the first step, but it was a step with a hope to work on accomplishing all of the regulations specified for nuns in the Vinaya in years to come. Korean Nuns Struggle to Maintain the Autonomy of a Dual Ordination for Nuns Since the revival of the practice of a dual ordination for nuns in 1982, the Chogye Order has continuously worked to fulfill the regulations of the bhikṣuṇī ordination in the Ssu-fen lü. After Master Chaun s death in 1992, a new generation of young monks has presided over the ordination procedures for monks and nuns. In 1999, the current bhikṣu vinaya masters announced that a bhikṣu vinaya master would deliver lectures on the three-hundred-forty-eight bhikṣuṇī rules during a nunnery s ordination ceremony. Taking fundamentally the story of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī s ordination, they insisted that a bhikṣu vinaya master lecture on the three-hundredforty-eight bhikṣuṇī rules during a nunnery s ordination ceremony Pŏmŏsa sugyesallimsŏ 6paek14 myŏng sugye. 18 Interview with Myoŏm at Pongnyŏngsa in June, 2005.

9 Citing the guidelines for a dual ordination for nuns given in the Vinaya, Myoŏm vehemently protested this decision, insisting that a bhikṣu vinaya master should not play the role of instructor during a nunnery s ordination ceremony. In spite of Myoŏm s protest, a bhikṣu vinaya master took over the role of instructor during a nunnery s ordination ceremony in This incident involving a bhikṣu vinaya master playing the role of instructor for the nunnery s ordination ceremony offers an example of how Korean nuns are constantly struggling to maintain the autonomy of a dual ordination for nuns under the maledominated Buddhist tradition. Obviously, monks feel threatened by the growing vitality of the assembly of Korean nuns and fear that their monastic hegemony may be disturbed. Yet, I would also like to point out that Korean nuns, including myself, have long been ignored when studying the Vinaya is considered, even though most nuns observe monastic rules more strictly than monks. For example, all the writers of the authoritative textbooks of Korean translations and commentaries of the Chinese monastic disciplinary texts for śrāmaṇerikās, śikṣamāṇās, and bhikṣuṇīs are monks. As briefly mentioned earlier, the lack of bhikṣuṇī vinaya masters was one of the most difficult challenges faced by the authorities of the ordination platform during the preparations for the revival of a dual ordination for nuns in Until the early 19 Ibid.

10 2000s, Myoŏm was the only senior Korean nun who is specialized on the Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya. 20 On the other hand, there has been no a shortage of bhikṣu vinaya masters since Master Chaun engaged in teaching the monastic disciplinary texts to monks in the 1950s. In the mid-1970s, Korean monks established a vinaya institute at Haeinsa 海印寺 21 and began to train young generations of monks as vinaya masters. 22 Most of the current bhikṣu vinaya masters are monks who studied the Vinaya at Haeinsa. Yet there was no vinaya institute for nuns in Korea until Myoŏm established a vinaya institute at the Pongnyŏngsa 奉寧寺 Monastic Seminary for Nuns 23 in In April, 2007, the second vinaya institute for nuns was founded at the Ch ŏngamsa 靑巖寺 Monastic Seminary for Nuns. 24 If Korean nuns had established vinaya institute for nuns and begun to train young generations of nuns as bhikṣuṇī vinaya masters earlier, they would not have been stripped of their right to play the role of bhikṣuṇī instructor during a nunnery s ordination ceremony for the six years between 1999 and Ibid. 21 For more information on Haeinsa, see the website ( Charles Muller s website ( 22 For more information on the vinaya institute for monks at Haeinsa, see Buswell, Jr., The Zen Monastic Experience: Buddhist Practice in Contemporary Korea, p For more information on the Pongnyŏngsa Monastic Seminary for Nuns, see the website ( 24 For more information on at the Ch ŏngamsa Monastic Seminary for Nuns, see the website ( ).

11 Concluding Remarks In conclusion, the revival of a dual ordination for Korean nuns in October of 1982 was performed under the circumstances of a serious shortage of bhikṣuṇī vinaya masters in the bhikṣuṇī saṃgha and several unfulfilled tasks regarding the procedure of a dual ordination required for nuns in the Vinaya. Yet the authorities of the dual ordination platform made an important breakthrough in the history of ordination for Korean nuns. Korean bhikṣu and bhikṣuṇī saṃghas have constantly worked together to fulfill the procedural requirements for a dual ordination for nuns as specified in the Vinaya. Moreover, Korean nuns have continuously strived to regain their right to act as bhikṣuṇī vinaya masters at the śrāmaṇerikā, śikṣamāṇā, and bhikṣuṇī ordination platforms of subsequent years. In September, 1996, the Chogye Order began to hold a separate ordination ceremony for śikṣamāṇās. Śikṣamāṇās must be trained in the six rules for two years prior to their bhikṣuṇī ordination. 25 Finally, in 2007, śrāmaṇerikās began to be ordained as śikṣamāṇās under qualified bhikṣuṇī vinaya masters. 26 In addition, faced with the persistent pressures of bhikṣuṇī masters, in 2006, the current head of the Chogye Order restored the role of bhikṣuṇī instructor during a nunnery s ordination ceremony Sikch amanani sugyesallim hoehyang (Completion of the Ordination Platform for Śikṣamāṇās), Bulgyosinmun, 1995 (Oct. 3), p Phone interview with Chŏgyŏn 寂然 ( ) in June, In May, 2007, Chŏgyŏn was conferred on as a bhikṣuṇī vinaya master by Myoŏm at Pongnyŏngsa. 27 Phone interview with Myoŏm in January, 2007.

12 After twenty five years of effort, Korean bhikṣu and bhikṣuṇī saṃghas have accomplished the observance of the procedural regulations of a dual ordination for nuns as guided in the Vinaya. There are still many issues and controversies to be worked out regarding ordination for Korean nuns. Korean nuns continue to challenge the practices perpetuating gender inequality under the male-dominated monastic tradition, with the hopes of achieving equality between monks and nuns in the near future.